On the third attempt at starting the PGA Tour season, Matt Kuchar stepped to the 10th tee in Kapalua, Hawaii, and could barely hear his name through the wind. When he finally steadied himself, a gust blew his golf ball off the tee. And then it happened again.

"We had a powwow and took us five or six minutes to laugh it off and say, 'We're really going to go through with this?' " Kuchar said. "Made the best of it."

But not for long.

Just more than one hour after the Tournament of Champions finally got under way, it was scrapped again with all the scores erased. The wind came roaring down the Plantation Course at Kapalua again, and it left officials no choice but to stop play. With more manageable wind in the forecast, the plan was to play 36 holes Monday and finish with 18 holes Tuesday.

That was good news for Ben Curtis. He had birdie putts on the first two holes and was 5-over par.

"It's crazy. That's the only way to describe it," Curtis said. "I've never hit two greens in regulation at the start and walked away at 5 over."

For those wondering why this tournament keeps getting postponed, an hour of television Sunday was all the evidence they needed.

Ian Poulter

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posed over his 4-iron shot to the 13th green and was so stunned to see it come up short that he looked at his small gallery for the longest time, repeating loud enough for them to hear that he was only 138 yards from the front of the green. Off to his right, Charlie Beljan had a search party stomping through high grass to the right of the 10th fairway looking for both his tee shots. He had a 15-foot putt for triple bogey when play was stopped.

Moments later, a call came over the radio for a ruling on the 12th green. Scott Stallings was trying to tap in a 2-foot putt when a gust blew his ball 8 feet away.

Miscellany

Andy Murray kicked off 2013 with a successful defense of his Brisbane International tennis title, holding off the up-and-coming Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (0), 6-4.

Murray began his breakthrough season in 2012 by winning in Brisbane and followed that up later with career-changing titles at the London Olympics and U.S. Open.

He heads into the Australian Open, starting Jan. 14, as the reigning major champion.

  • Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens finished third in the first race of his comeback after a seven-year retirement at Santa Anita. He was aboard Jebrica in the sixth race at a mile on the turf. They were running second late in the race before finishing a nose behind second-place Deacon Speakin' and the winner, Maybe Tuesday.